Twilight Masquerade Review - Best Trainers, ACE SPECS, and Energy

Now that Twilight Masquerade is finally here, let's see what are the best Trainers and "staples" from Scarlet & Violet's sixth base set!

Kieran

This Supporter is really similar to its predecessor, Giovanni's Scheme BKT 138, from the X/Y era. Their second effects are really similar because they give you some "extra damage", and they're also Supporters that offer you two options.

Perrin

This Supporter is like a Pokémon Communication TEU 152 for two Pokémon, which is great to filter your hand.

But, as we mentioned before in other articles, it is a Supporter, not an Item, so it's a bit worse than it should be.

Lana's Aid

This card will be useful in a Water deck that focuses only on "baby" Pokémon (no Rule Box Pokémon), as it gets you a combination of 3 cards from your deck. You can get basic Water energies with it, for instance.

As Super Rod sv2 188 is still available in this format, I believe this card will only fit "rogue decks", like Poliwrath.

Raifort

This card will somewhat let you filter your top deck. It lets you look at the 5 top cards in your deck. Then, you may discard any cards you don't want there, and return the others in any order.

It is efficient for the United Wings deck because you'll need to discard Pokémon that have this attack.

Jamming Tower

This Stadium disables all tools in play, which is great against Paradox decks, both with "Ancient" and "Future" Pokémon, that often use Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140 and Future Booster Energy Capsule TEF 149.

Bug Catching Set

This card is an excellent addition to the Grass archetype: you'll look at the top 7 cards in your deck, get a basic Grass energy and/or a Grass Pokémon from there and put it in your hand.

Love Ball

For many players that use Pokémon like Radiant Greninja ASR 46 recursively, this card will be great. It will also be useful for "end-game" attackers, like Radiant Charizard CRZ 20.

Though it might seem like this card will struggle to find some space, I believe in its potential.

Handheld Fan

This tool is perfect to control your energies, and will be quite strong for Gengar ex TEF 104, like in this deck.

Its effect states that, any time the Pokémon that it is attached to is dealt damage, you may move the energies attached to the opponent's active Pokémon to another Pokémon on their bench, and sabotage it.

Lucky Helmet

At a first glance, it is a simple card, as it is a "reprint", but, when Gift Energy LOR 171 rotates out in 2025, this tool will be quite useful to draw cards. Just be careful if Jamming Tower TWM 153 is on the board, as you won't be able to use Lucky Helmet TWM 158 if it is.

All the cards listed above will be critical for the decks that need to use them because of their strategies.

The least important one is Legacy Energy TWM 167 because it isn't a good idea to fill a slot in your deck with only one copy of a special energy which your opponent can easily sabotage by discarding it. Furthermore, its effect only happens once throughout the entire game.

Outside Legacy Energy TWM 167, all ACE SPECS from this set are excellent:

- Scoop Up Cyclone TWM 162 is an item that "retreats" one Pokémon from play, and is practically the "father" of the now-banned Scoop Up Net RCL 165.

- Hyper Aroma TWM 152 is excellent to set up stage 1 Pokémon from your deck, particularly for engines and recursive Pokémon, like Kirlia SIT 68 and Froslass TWM 53.

- Secret Box TWM 163 is an item whose effect is incredibly powerful. Even though it forces you to discard 3 cards in your hand to use it (which is expensive), you'll be able to look for an item, tool, supporter, or stadium in your deck. This is very versatile.

- Survival Brace TWM 164 is a useful tool for any archetype: "If the Pokémon this card is attached to has full HP and would be Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, it is not Knocked Out, and its remaining HP becomes 10".

- Unfair Stamp TWM 165 is a great item to sabotage your opponent's hand. It is a sort of Reset Stamp UNM 206, but you can only use it if one of your Pokémon was knocked out beforehand. If you do, both players will shuffle their hands. You'll draw 5 new cards, and your opponent will only draw 2.

When Bibarel PR-SW SWSH188 rotates out, it will be quite strong.

Boomerang Energy

This energy recycles itself, that is, if you discard this card to attack with one of your Pokémon because their attack's effect requires you to, instead of going to your discard pile, it will return to your Pokémon.

It is similar to Burning Energy BKT 151 (from the X/Y era), but more generic - as it gives you a colorless energy, it fits into any archetype.

What did you think of our list? Which cards from the new set do you think will stand out? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!